On August 28, 2015, the Virginia Division got the answer to Their Appeal over The Veteran's Administration earlier decision to NOT provide Upright Markers at the Confederate Section at Oakwood Cemetery. They said,"No." AGAIN! Well that settles that! So why is The Virginia Division sitting on this very important news that SCV members have been waiting on for five years?
Below is part of that notice:
Department of Veterans Affairs Memorandum
Date August 28, 2015 VAOPGCPREC 3-2015
From: General Counsel (02)
Subj:
Whether Graves of Civil War-Era Soldiers Currently Identified with Marble Stones with To: Numerical Inscriptions Constitute "Unmarked Graves" for Purposes of VA Furnishing a Headstone or Marker Under 38 U.S.C. § 2306
Executive-in-Charge, Board of Veterans' Appeals (01)
QUESTIONS PRESENTED:
1. Is the designated cemetery official a proper applicant for a government-furnished headstone or marker under 38 C.F.R. § 38.632(b)(1 )?
2. Do Civil-War era graves currently identified with marble stones that do not show the names of each soldier constitute "unmarked graves" for purposes of VA furnishing a headstone or marker under 38 U.S.C. § 2306(a)(3)?
3. Do Civil-War era graves currently identified with marble stones that do not show the names of each soldier constitute "unmarked graves" for purposes of VA furnishing a headstone or marker under 38 U.S.C. § 2306(a)(3) if such stones denote the location of more than one soldier?
CONCLUSIONS:
1 . The designated cemetery official may be a proper applicant for a governmentfurnished headstone or marker under 38 C.F.R. § 38.632(b)(1 ).
2. Assuming the facts as stated in this opinion are accurate, Civil-War era graves at Oakwood Cemetery currently identified with marble stones that do not show the names of each soldier but that have identifying numbers that are tracked in a burial ledger are not "unmarked graves" for purposes of VA furnishing a headstone or marker under section 2306(a)(3).
3. Assuming the facts as stated in this opinion are accurate, Civil-War era graves at Oakwood Cemetery currently identified with marble stones that do not show the names of each soldier but that have identifying numbers that are tracked in a burial ledger are not "unmarked graves" for purposes of VA furnishing a headstone or marker under section 2306(a}(3) even if such stones denote the location of more than one soldier.
These Fine Christian Gentlemen on the Virginia Division's DEC should be more open, don't Ya'll Agree? Maybe Ya'll should call Them and ask, "Why?"
